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Previously known as psycik
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eph:
I think it depends on how often they poll the data from the meters. For TOU (time of use) consumers they only have to report in 30 mins chunks so that would be their finest usage granularity (not sure how Flick works, is it minute based pricing?).
The retailer only have to gather the data really only once a month but the data is usually provided by the metering company (which is usally not the same) more often. I assume increased polling frequency would mean increased cost. So if say Metrix provides the data only twice a week you'd see the delay you are seeing. With different metering company the frequency might be different...
Unless there has been a drastic change in the last few years, these so-called 'smart' meters are just old-fashioned thick as a short plank dumb meters with a cellular (2G / GPRS) modem built in.
They collect half-hour interval data, and the modem calls home every night and uploads the last week's or fortnight's data - this is so that if they miss a day or two, it will be picked up as soon as comms come back on.
The data gets input into a Time Of Use billing data collection system and from there onto a customer-accessible web portal and the customer billing system (this may in some cases be the same as the TOU data collection system)
So, the most up-to-date and fine-grained data possibly accessible to the customer (i.e. 'muggins', or 'me') is half-hour intervals and from yesterday or the day before.
This suits the retailer fine, as half-hour interval data is what the wholesale electricity market system is based on.
For real-time monitoring - let alone control - of your load, it's about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
If you want to do real-time monitoring of your load there are some people on here who can help you bodge up a system that uses the little blinking light on the meter to drive a Pi-based microcontroller, or you can buy and install a measurement and control device that sits on your side of the meter - I think the solar power folks do that to make sure you use the solar electricity wisely and send as little as possible back to the grid. But "it ain't cheap!" 
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Antonios K
PolicyGuy:
eph:
I think it depends on how often they poll the data from the meters. For TOU (time of use) consumers they only have to report in 30 mins chunks so that would be their finest usage granularity (not sure how Flick works, is it minute based pricing?).
The retailer only have to gather the data really only once a month but the data is usually provided by the metering company (which is usally not the same) more often. I assume increased polling frequency would mean increased cost. So if say Metrix provides the data only twice a week you'd see the delay you are seeing. With different metering company the frequency might be different...
Unless there has been a drastic change in the last few years, these so-called 'smart' meters are just old-fashioned thick as a short plank dumb meters with a cellular (2G / GPRS) modem built in.
They collect half-hour interval data, and the modem calls home every night and uploads the last week's or fortnight's data - this is so that if they miss a day or two, it will be picked up as soon as comms come back on.
The data gets input into a Time Of Use billing data collection system and from there onto a customer-accessible web portal and the customer billing system (this may in some cases be the same as the TOU data collection system)
So, the most up-to-date and fine-grained data possibly accessible to the customer (i.e. 'muggins', or 'me') is half-hour intervals and from yesterday or the day before.
This suits the retailer fine, as half-hour interval data is what the wholesale electricity market system is based on.
For real-time monitoring - let alone control - of your load, it's about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
If you want to do real-time monitoring of your load there are some people on here who can help you bodge up a system that uses the little blinking light on the meter to drive a Pi-based microcontroller, or you can buy and install a measurement and control device that sits on your side of the meter - I think the solar power folks do that to make sure you use the solar electricity wisely and send as little as possible back to the grid. But "it ain't cheap!"
You are correct. I used to work for company which was turning (mostly) dump meters into smart meters by attaching little box which would count the pulses (through wired) and used modem to communicate with the office. Anybody can cook up something like that, but you'd have to use the LEDs since the wired pulse outputs are usually underneath the cover (and you'd have to break the metering company seal).
If you want to be in control you can use (something like) Pulse sensor.
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